Tom Neel's Blog

Creativity - Decisions and Adjustments

Art begins with a vision, but it’s a whole bunch of tiny decisions that make it a reality. If you paint paintings, or dance or sculpt or write, or even act, the completed work is always the process and results of hundreds of small decisions, movements or words. It is their collective being which creates a whole. In a sense, one small change in any one of those decisions is the creation of a new piece of art.

As an example, when I paint a painting, hundreds of decisions are made and completed in thought before I even lift a brush, and then hundreds more are born from each squeeze of the tube, mixing of the paint and its stroke by stroke application. It’s mind-boggling to look at a completed work of art and think just how many small decisions were made to move that piece of art forward to its completion.

This is very likely one of those things which separate the beginner from those further along in mastering art. The beginner overthinks ever small decision or action with a level of apprehension, and the master barely gives it a conscious thought.

To the beginner, learn from each step you take, each decision you make, but don’t over think them. Let them come, feel the joy first of the creative process and allow some decisions you make to be the mistakes of natural growth. The process will evolve into a less conscious state of mind.